Hiring the Sports Performance Professional – Part One

When you are looking to hire a
performance specialist what do you look for? Where should you look? The most
logical first step is to define what the performance specialist is. Usually the
performance specialist is known as a strength coach or a strength and
conditioning specialist. I am not sure that these two terms are accurate
descriptions of what a performance specialist needs to do is in today’s changing job market.
The name is important because words create images and images create
action. Therefore the name should describe the job as accurately and succinctly
as possible. The job title “Strength Coach” limits the scope of the job. It
conjures up an image of someone who never leaves the weight room, when in fact
this individual is in all probability is going to be asked to be many places and
wear many hats, sometimes all at the same time! To call this person a strength
and conditioning coach also creates an inaccurate image. It artificially
separates strength and conditioning when in fact strength is a facet of
conditioning. In order to advance this new profession( Aprofession crying out for definition) we need to have a more
accurate term for this position. The athlete requires a total conditioning
program with strength training as an integral part of the conditioning program.
As a step toward this I propose that we call this individual a Sport
Performance Professional (SPP). Sports performance specifically describes the
individual’s goal and professional denotes that this is the person’s
profession. That is how they make their living. That is what they are trained
to do.

With this in mind and the consideration that this is a
relatively new field, approximately twenty-five to thirty years old, lets look
at a step-by-step process to go about hiring a Sports Performance Professional.
The first step is to clearly define the job the person will be expected to
perform. Will this person be expected to work with all sports or will this be a
position that only works with selected sports? Who is this person accountable
to? Is this chain of command and organizational structure clearly defined? Is
this an existing position or a new position? This can be a significant factor
in the hiring process. If it is a new program whomever the person that is hired
will define the job. If it is an existing position the new person will in all
probability need to have a degree of flexibility to fit into an existing
situation with established guidelines and procedures. As far as I am concerned
this is more than a job description. If it is a new position look more at what
you want the job to be and find an individual that will define their roles and
responsibilities in that position. Remember that this person is much more
important that than facilities or equipment so it necessary to allocate
finances accordingly in order to hire the best individual possible. A good
coach will have a system that is adaptable to the athletes they work with not
the other way around. If this person is being hired by the trainer (ATC) how much
will the SPP be involved with rehab and reconditioning the injured athletes?
Will this person have a staff to help or will they be by themselves? Also
consider the bottom line – how much can you pay? These are all questions that
must be answered in detail before the hiring process is begun.

The biggest question is
determining qualifications because the most important and overriding
consideration is experience. Does the person have experience in a coaching
environment, much less as a SPP. Personal training is not coaching. Coaching
involves long term planning and commitment. It demands the ability to work with groups and to organize in a time constrained setting. It involves motivation and
communication with a variety of people, some of whom may not be particularly
interested in being there. It also involves working closely with sport coaches.
Some of these coaches may have very different ideas about conditioning their
athletes. In short experience in a coaching environment is the experience that
is most needed.

One of the big problems that I
have found in the hiring process is how do you assess experience? What
constitutes experience? If the person has been coaching for ten years has that
person had one experience ten times or ten different experiences. I personally
would prefer the latter. In talking to several of my colleagues who are
Division I head S&C coaches this is also the biggest consideration they
weigh in hiring people. They would rather have someone who has coached Little
League than someone who has no coaching experience or was a weight room
supervisor or a personal trainer. Their reasoning is that this person has been
on the firing line in an actual coaching situation and has a better command of
the whole picture.

I get calls all the time from
young people just starting out who want advice about how to get Division I or
professional jobs in this field. Without exception I advise them
to gain experience at the high school level, as this is a true test of their
coaching abilities as well as a great foundation. This is where the premium is
on teaching and where you will see a great difference of abilities. At this
level you will have to innovate and motivate to get the job done. This will
provide the experiences necessary at higher levels of sport.

What about internships? How do
you weigh them in the experience context? Where was the internship – there are certain internships that I definitely weigh higher than others. You must ask what exactly did the
internship entail? Was there program planning and actual supervision and
training of athletes involved? Also from the point of view of the job seeker is
an internship a valuable time spent as a step toward getting a fulltime position
or are you just free labor?